Lilies And Smoke

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Good morning

Anita is woken by Alex moving around the room, retrieving his clothes and getting dressed. "Morning" she greets sleepily. Alex turns, pulling up his jeans. "Good morning, I'm sorry did I wake you?" he asks. Anita yawns, "a little, but don't worry about it, what time is it?". Alex gets his phone out, unlocking the screen as he looks at the time. "It's quarter to nine" he answers. Anita sits up, holding her quilt to her chest. Alex looks around for his shirt, he spots the black material poking out from underneath the bed and takes it. He throws it on over his head and pulls it down. "So, when can I next expect you?" Anita purrs. Alex grins and bends down towards her, planting a small kiss on her lips "Soon, I've got to get to work and finish the kitchen off in that flat. Is Tuesday ok with you? I'm busy this weekend".

Anita hums, "Tuesdays perfect". Alex hesitates for a moment, "I'll call you, I'm sorry rush off". Anita reaches out and feels his chest, "it's alright, are you ok to let yourself out?". Alex grabs her hand and kisses her fingertips, "hmm, I can do that. I'll feed Bill too and top up his water bowl". She sighs, "thank you". Alex pulls away, walking out of the room. "I'll see you Tuesday" he reminds, leaving the room. "Tuesday" Anita agrees and flops back down on the bed, plastering a big smile on her face. She touches her lips, her eyes sparkling as she remembers every sensation from the night prior. She listens as Bill barks in excitement downstairs, he must be feeding Bill. She throws the cover off her and jumps out of bed. She walks around her bed, her hand tracing around it as she does so until she meets the opposite side. She bends to the floor and smooths her hand out against the cool wooden floor. She feels the material of her nightie and grabs hold of it, standing back up. She extends her free hand and walks to the wall and follows it to the corner of her room. She finds her washing basket which was to the left of the wardrobe and places it in there.

It doesn't take long before she hears the front door shut, she grins and gets out a set of clothes from her wardrobe. Her hand hits the broken door, I nearly forgot about this. Ten minutes or so passes by and Anita is dressed and heading down the stairs. Remembering she left her mobile on her living room table, she hunts it down smoothing her hands around it until she taps it with the side of her hand. She grasps it and contemplates whether to call Janice and recalls the situation with Robert.

"Shit" she whispers to herself. She decides it best not to call her, it would be of no use as Janice will avoid it as long as she possibly can. Anita taps the phone against her other hand in thought, unsure on what to do. She decides to call her mother; she had been meaning to do it for over a week now and taps her to move it across right three times. Then the middle button, then down... four times for my mums' number, she instructs herself and feels for the button to the left of the middle button and presses it. She places the phone to her ear and listens to it ring out. On the seventh ring, she answers "hello? Anita darlin' is that you?" her voice frail. Anita smiles weakly, "yes mum, it's me".

"Oh! Anita, it's so good to hear your voice honey!" she cues on the other end.

"It's good to hear yours too mum".

"How have you been darlin'?" she asks eagerly.

"I've been alright mum; the neighbours are nice here. Besides the odd nosey ones it's pretty peaceful".

"That's wonderful! It's been hectic down here lovey, you know Leanne from nursery?".

"Leanne, as in Leanne I went to primary school with?" Anita asks puzzled.

"Yes! That's the one, well I was talking to her mother the other day and she's expecting her first baby! Isn't that great?". Anita's stomach turns, spinning as quick as a tumble dryer, "yeah mum, that's really great" she says a little disheartened.

"So, what have I missed down there? Oh! I missed you so much, I was thinking if your aunty Chrissy can bring me down in the next couple of weeks to come and see you!" she informs in excitement.

"That would be wonderful mum, I'd like to see you I've missed you loads".

"Well you won't be waiting long darlin'" she beams.

"Hey mum?" she asks.

"Yes honey?". Anita hesitates for a moment, breathing out "I've met someone" she says quietly.

"Oh my! Well I certainly must come down now!" she insists.

"Alright mum" she gives a hearty laugh, "but let me court him a bit before I introduce you to him".

"where's the fun in that!" she exclaims with a short laugh.

"Alright, mum let me know what date you're coming down and for how long so I can set up the spare bedroom".

"Ok honey, I will. Oh! I must pop off as I the vans just pulled up with my shopping. I love you sweetheart, see you soon".

"See you soon mum, I love you" Anita says, listening as the line went dead.

. . . . .

An hour passes before she decides to make some toast. She munches it down, "Bill" she calls as she makes her way towards the front door. She feels for her shoe rack which was placed to the left-hand side of the door. Next, she feels for her trainers, tracing the rough knitted laces between her fingers and smooths her other hand over the side of her trainers, feeling for the protrusion of the sewn Nike ticks' symbol. She grabs the shoes and shoves them on, she tightens her laces and moves to the right-hand side of the door where she keeps Bill's harness on top of the small cupboard. She listens as Bill's heavy paws tap on the floor towards her, she lifts the harness and waits for Bill patiently. He stands in front of her and she begins fitting Bill in his harness and starts her journey to Janice's.

This takes her just under an hour to do, her mind rushing with a million thoughts per minute, as Bill pulls her along. She tries to concentrate but finds it difficult, all that was on her mind was Alex and what to say to Janice.

She reaches the turning to Janice's house, "to the door" she instructs to Bill as they face Janice's house. She knocks on vigorously and waits for an answer but was met with nothing. She concentrates her hearing and hears a small commotion coming from inside the house. She knocks on again, harder and waits there impatiently. She hears the door unclick and the handle pushes down harshly, she straightens as the door swings open.

She hears a man's voice.

"Hello... Anita".